Amnesiac Memoirs

Dedicated to the re-presentation of

A Place of ... Amazing Grace

Chapbook about the Sago Mine disaster
where 12 miners perished in 2006
memorialized here to honor them
and their families and friends
and the Writers of America
who made this Chapbook possible

This event struck a chord in the hearts
of people everywhere.

Sago Baptist Church

Don’t Forget Them
  by Debra J Harmes Kurth

In my tiny town
of Milton, West Virginia…
Wednesday snuck in
cautious…silent
as if even the traffic
were on tip-toes.

Most spoke in whispers
of grandfathers, uncles,
fathers, brothers and cousins.
Men that had or do
work underground.
A way of life in a state
of few jobs…
   
Some spoke loud
saying they’d never
work the mines;
others knew…
You do what you got to do
to take care of your own.

Generations of hard working
God fearing men
have given their lives
in the coal mines
that fuel this country.

America…
  Don’t forget them.

A Place of...

Amazing Grace

This book was made possible by
the generous donations of:

Lynn Veach Sadler
Ted Glines
Mary Sue Kessell Rosen
James C. Lambert
Jan Olszewski
Nelda N. Rohrer
Judy Wray
Art With Words Publications

~1~

A SHARED GRIEF
   by Beth Guye Kittle, West Virginia

There we were in our plush offices,
replete with laptops, cell phones, and coffee breaks,
strung out a bit from holiday excesses,
hearing about an explosion at Sago mine.
Once we knew what had happened there,
these miners and their families became
our brothers and sisters in anguish.
We were one with them,
and although we shared their pain,
we ourselves could not feel blameless.

We felt guilt that we had ignored their plight
over the years.  Oh, we all knew about
mining wars and union clashes. We knew
familiar names like Mother Jones and John L. Lewis,
Monongah, and Matewan.  We knew
our miners labored in dark dungeons of coal,
amid dusty air and methane gas,
their lives cut short by black lung,
as their widows and children labored on alone
in the deep hollows and remote passages
of our West Virginia mountains.
Tourists marveled at our state's pristine beauty,
untouched by man, except in the coal fields.
They seldom went into the coal towns
but passed by on their way to the ski slopes,
where only company bosses
could afford to go.
Sometimes the pockets of poverty received attention
from the media, eager to perpetuate the myth
of the West Virginia hillbilly with no shoes,
or we received  the visits of politicians,
eager for our votes but not our complaints.

Now "old King Coal" takes front and center
on the national stage and we are reminded
that miners live dangerously every day
of their lives, like the twelve who died
at Sago.  These brave men all knew
that going to work and coming home alive
was a throw of the dice.
Their wives and families learned to live with that.
Somehow they will survive this latest crisis
in the coal fields.  The strength of West Virginia
is reflected in all the cold and suffering and pathos
of this two-edged tragedy and its  "miscommunication".
It is conveyed in the open faces of our people there
at Sago, and in the honesty of their heartbreak

We all join them in that.

~2~

Between the Sun and Moon
    by Linda Gayton, Washington

The sun rises
over the hills
The trees stand
silhouetted in black
Their fingers
fork the sky and clouds
and live, triumphant
even beyond the sight
that blinds us to their form
 
So, too, love lives
invisible to our eyes
Though our fingers want to feel
the form of what we love
and trace the hills and valleys
that time and the Creator
imprints on flesh and bone
How do we describe the beauty
of those furrowed fields?
 
But still love breathes
independently of touch
and regardless of distance
Just as we feel the tremors
that run beneath our feet
The glittering veins run deep
Soot and carbon
are diamonds in the dust
As we are diamonds
in the rough and fuel
for the fire
 
The source of earth
is as old as the stars
We only return
to where we were born
We sleep as the sun falls
under a nurturing moon
Dreams bring us to the light
and the souls who are alive
whisper as we close our eyes
alone,
I am home...I am home

~3~

The Design
  by Cindy Harper, Texas
 
I belong to a sisterhood
of women who
send their men off
every day to a
dangerous job.
 
Every day I pray,
'Please keep him safe.
Please bring him back to me.'
 
John says his work
is honorable
and hard,
and that his brothers will
watch his back.
 
Others see a job that's
strange
dirty
scary.
 
We see a job that
pays the bills
has benefits
sends the kids to college.
A job that lights
and warms
the world.
A job
that lets us live
in these hills we love.
 
The day John didn't come back
I wondered,
'Didn't God hear my prayer?
Did He ignore it?
How does He choose
who returns
and who doesn't?'
 
John told me once
 this life is like
a piece of my embroidery.
We see the back side,
God sees the design.
We see the mess
the loose strings
the knots.
God sees the beauty.
 
The design must have
come undone
that day,
the day
the mine
claimed John.
I saw
gnarled and nubby threads,
in shades of slag gray.
 
When I see God
I will ask him,
'Where in the design
is the day John died?'
I will touch the spot
with a tender fingertip.
I hope the thread
will be of purest gold,
for that is the day
I passed
through the refiner's fire.

~4~

Dark Mines
  by Barbara Jean, California 

Sometimes, there are no words.
Sometimes, nothing but a guttural howl can touch
the edge of our pain, the farthest edge.
If we were to breathe from the center of
the horror of the truth we would die.
And...we do.
Bless you.

~5~

What Can I Do?
  by Mary Rudge, California

What can I do with my soft white hands
when yours are black from the mine, brother,
hard and broken-calloused and grimed
from the mine, brother.
I would reach out my hands to plea
pen letters to work for your safety
that Someone with power will hear ----
that the shaft be spared,
the braces strong,
that the air be good,
the canary-song
tell someone has cared,
pray the earth hold back its fall
yet give you all you seek,
let the hours be shorter,
the light bright long.
Angels kiss your palm to extend your life,
your life-line I would trace with prayer,
Lifeline of your palm be long
on the hand I would hold
when you come from the mine, brother,
safe back from your work in the mine,
among family, community.

No TV news, no horror, no fear,
no soft white hands brushing away tears,
but grasping yours,
back from the mine, brother,

How can my soft white hands
dig earth, to bring you back
alive, brother, to find you
in time, brother,
your hands hard and calloused and grimed
from the mine, but safe back
every time,
brother.

~6~

Rememberin’ Yesterday
  by Debra J. Harmes Kurth, West Virginia

Mama and me would pack
his lunch pail right after
we got done eatin’ supper
‘cuz sometimes Daddy would leave
before mama went to bed,
when it was still dark;
when I was still sleepin’.

Summers when it was hot;
when the doors and windows
all stood open to catch a breeze
Mama and me would dust everyday;
watch the sky for smoke and run
down the road with the neighbors
if the hill shook, shivered, groaned,
or… if the church bells started ringin’.

Mama watched the clock;
sat on the front porch or walked
to the edge of the yard if Daddy was late.
There was times she sat and cried,
but I didn’t know the reason. 
When daddy did pull in, she’d yell
“’Bout time you got home old man’.
He’d smile…I’d laugh.

Daddy kept an old tin can under the bed;
told me it was for my schoolin’,
so I’d do better for myself;
maybe even get a big house
right in the middle of town,
or get a job at the state capitol
changin’ laws.
I just wanted to live next door.
Daddy would say, “Nope,
not a chance girl, not for you.”

I didn’t understand then…
   I do now.

This and following segments reserved
for Chapbook contents,
to be followed by
January 4, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story.

Shocking turnabout: Sago Mine families told just 1 alive

Joy turns to horror with discovery 12 are dead

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. -- In a bizarre chain of events, initial reports that 12 of 13 miners had survived an explosion turned out to be false as company officials reported that only one miner had been found alive.

The news shocked and angered family members, who had been informed around midnight that 12 miners had been found alive. That joy lasted for only three hours.

Ben Hatfield, president and CEO of International Coal Group, which owns the Sago mine, confirmed during a news conference at 3 a.m. today that only one miner survived the explosion that occurred about 6:30 a.m. Monday.

That miner, identified as Randal McCloy Jr. was in critical condition at a hospital in Morgantown, W.Va.

McCloy was transferred to the intensive care unit of West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital at Morgantown, where he remained in critical condition this morning. Doctors said he was under sedation and on a ventilator to aid his breathing and there was no immediate sign of brain damage.

"He responds to stimuli and that's good," Dr. Lawrence Roberts said at a briefing. There was no sign of carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.

Charles Green, McCloy's father-in-law, told ABC that when he found out his son-in law was the only survivor, "I was still devastated. My whole family's heart goes out to them other families."

Angry family members said they had been lied to by company officials, and said mining officials offered no explanation for the foul-up.

"They said they were sorry," said Sam Lantz, whose brother-in-law, Marty Bennett, was among the miners.

Lantz said mining company officials came into the Sago Baptist Church, where family members were celebrating what they thought was a miracle and told them, "We didn't have the good news we thought we had earlier."

Mr. Hatfield attributed the mistake to "a miscommunication."

He said that company officials received a report from a rescue team down in the mine that 12 miners had been found and were alive. Twenty minutes later, he said, they learned that initial report was wrong; that only one of the 12 was still alive.

But someone in the command center at the mine site heard the report that 12 of the miners were alive and relayed it to family members at the church, prompting a joyous celebration.

When the rescue team notified officials above ground that the first report was in error and that 11 of the workers were deceased, Mr. Hatfield said, "We were devastated. It's sorrow beyond belief."

Mr. Hatfield said he had no idea who told the families that 12 miners had survived, but said it was not someone authorized by the company.

The company did not go back to tell family members about the new information, Mr. Hatfield said, until they had made sure it was correct.

"Who do I tell not to celebrate. We couldn't go back there. There's been too much emotional punishment already," he said.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III said this morning he had no idea how "the confusions, mistakes and misinformation started and spread." But he promised a full investigation in the days ahead.

Mr. Manchin said he was in the in the church speaking to family members when he heard relatives of the miners in an adjoining room break into cheers, shouting "Twelve are alive, twelve are alive."

He asked his aides if the report had been confirmed and was told it was not. He said he decided to head over to the mine.

"We were caught up in the euphoric state, just like they and many of you were," he said.

Mr. Manchin said he, like others, was devastated when he learned the initial report that 12 had survived was not true.

"I'm the same as you and everyone else, wondering what could have happened, how did this happen?"

Just a few hours earlier, grim faces and somber moods had given way to singing and jubilation just before midnight as family members rejoiced when they thought that 12 of the 13 miners who were missing and feared dead after the explosion had been found alive.

Norman Green, a Red Cross volunteer, was inside the church when someone ran into the church, shouting "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!"

Family members shouted with joy and the floors of the church shook as everyone clapped and hugged. Mr. Green rang the church's bells 12 times, for each of the miners.

It was a dramatic and joyous turn of events for a community that just three hours earlier had learned that one of the 13 missing miners had been found dead, about 11,200 feet inside the mine.

A grim-faced Mr. Hatfield, announced that rescue crews had found the body of one mine worker. Another 700 feet deeper inside the mine, the crew found the low-slung man bus that carried the men to work.

Mr. Hatfield said the discovery of the vehicle provided a "glimmer of hope," because "despite the very substantial explosive force, the mine bus was not damaged and was still on its track.

"It appears that the passengers exited the man bus under their own power and made their way toward [safety]. But we do not know from there where they've gone," Mr. Hatfield said then.

Mr. Manchin, who had been at the site since Monday evening and has met with the families, echoed Mr. Hatfield's reaction to the discovery of the undamaged vehicle.

"They know that 12 men walked off somewhere together," Mr. Manchin said.

"A miracle is still alive. It's a good little state, a tough state, we're going to be OK."

	John Heller, Post-Gazette Harley Ables, a relative of miner Fred Ware, describes the angry reaction inside Sago Baptist Church after mining company officials told family members that there was "a miscommunication" between the mine command center and the rescue team. Instead of a dozen survivors, there were a dozen dead miners found in the Sago Mine. Click photo for larger image.

After being told about the discovery of a lone body around 9 p.m., the families remained hopeful throughout the day.

William Mooring, the pastor at New Life Tabernacle Church, spent the day at Sago Baptist. "They realized that one was dead, but they have hope that 12 others weren't found," he said.

During the day, the families ate together and prayed, laughed and sang hymns. In general, Mr. Mooring said, they worked to lift each other up.

"I know God has a special grace for people in this situation," Mr. Mooring said.

Atop the hill above town, under the sprawling coal tipples, TV satellite trucks lined up and pointed their dishes to the sky.

Earlier in the evening, officials working desperately to reach the trapped miners suspended drilling operations when rescue teams made quicker-than-expected progress toward the area where they hoped the men might be.

The rescuers braved toxic fumes throughout the day yesterday, looking for some sign that the miners had survived the explosion and were able to barricade themselves in a safe pocket of breathable air.

"Our goal is to keep hope alive, while there is hope," Mr. Hatfield said in an earlier news briefing. "We believe we can get [to them]. But with each hour that passes, our likelihood of success fades."

No one knows what caused the explosion, which happened at 6:31 a.m. Monday when miners returned to work after a two-day holiday shutdown. Residents nearby said a lightning storm passed through Tallmansville about the time of the blast, but mining company officials refused to speculate on what caused the explosion. The hope that the miners survived the explosion and resulting toxic gases was challenged yesterday morning when a hole was drilled from the surface into the mine and dangerous levels of carbon monoxide were detected.

The 6 ^1/2 -inch shaft allowed crews to drop a camera into the area where the miners were believed to be, but there were no signs of life. Crews also hammered on the drill but received no response from inside the mine.

Sensors showed the air was not life-sustaining. Though the oxygen and methane levels were acceptable, the carbon monoxide reading was 1,300 parts per million, which far exceeds the breathable limit.

Cameras, however, showed no significant damage to the mine.

"The hope that we cling to is that (?) we didn't see any major combustion damage, we didn't see equipment turned upside down, we didn't see cables burned," Mr. Hatfield said yesterday morning. "That's probably the brightest spot we've encountered in the past few hours."

A rescue robot supplied by the Mine Safety Health Administration couldn't handle the muddy, uneven terrain inside the mine, and was pulled out as rescue teams worked past it.

Two more holes were drilled toward nearby sections of the mine yesterday, and Mr. Hatfield said the drills were stopped 20 feet from the mine ceiling so the rescue crew didn't have to be withdrawn before the drills punched through and possibly caused an explosion.

He said the original approach might have been overly conservative, and the pace was quickened after consultation with mine safety agencies.

Mr. Hatfield said yesterday that officials still don't know what sparked the explosion.

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